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Dates: Open Thursday June 5 at noon for early arrivals to Sunday June 8 at noon.
Registration: We have an early registration form up on our Web site. Download it and mail it to Mountain Empire Grotto with a May 21 or earlier postmark. The basic adult admission is $28 for Friday through Sunday. The SERA fee ($1.50) and VAR fee ($3) are additional—declare your allegiance to one or both. Thursday camping will be $5 additional. Registration post-May 21 will be $33.
Early arrivals: If you want to camp earlier than Thursday, we encourage people to camp at nearby Appalachian Caverns. Talk to Roger Hartley, Appalachian Caverns, 420 Cave Hill Road, Blountville, TN 37617, 423-323-2337. See their Web site at www.appalachiancaverns.com for more info.
You might also consider camping or renting a cabin at Natural Tunnel State Park, near Duffield, Virginia (see www.naturaltunnel.info for general info and www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/index.shtml for camping information and reservations). The park is on the edge of the Rye Cove karst area and is near many of our Scott County trip caves.
For a wilder camping experience, consider the Dennis Cove Recreation Area near Hampton, Tennessee. It's close to Grindstaff Cave and offers hikes to several waterfalls and a popular easy rock climb on the Appalachian Trail (see www.fs.fed.us/r8/cherokee/recreation2003/ROGS/Watauga/dennis.pdf for more info).
Attractions: Visit Natural Tunnel State Park and check out the tunnel, which is a 1,000-foot-long cave in its own right. Admission to the park is free. The park offers trips through the tunnel and to several other caves on a trip-for-fee-basis. The tunnel has a railroad going through it and the railway personnel are extremely sensitive about unauthorized trips. The park is on the edge of Rye Cove, one of the most cave-rich areas in the state. The Gray Fossil Site, Gray, Tennessee, is possibly the largest deposit of mammal fossils in the world. It's a Miocene Age sinkhole dating back about five million years, and features tapirs, alligators, peccaries, saber-tooth cats, rhinos, and just about every other Miocene beast except horses, which mysteriously still haven't been found. Visit their new museum, admission is free; a semi-guided trip over the site has a low fee. If there's enough interest, Drs. Wallace and Schubert will arrange some digging and sieving. From my own experience, you are almost guaranteed to find some bones (probably tapir) if you dig a few hours.
Vendors: Our confirmed vendors are IMO, One Life Outfitters, Cavers Connection, Howie's Harnesses, On Rope 1, B&C Wunderwear, SCCi, the NSS Bookstore, and SpeleoBooks, Crystal Creations, KVART, and Terry Ragon and Chrissy Frotten, flint knappers.
Show caves: Appalachian Caverns and Bristol Caverns are about 10 minutes, in opposite directions, from the campground (see www.appalachiancaverns.com and www.bristolcaverns.com). AC is the longer cave, Bristol the prettier. Mountain Empire Grotto is starting a survey project at AC that we hope will be winding up by event time.
Trip caves: About 60 area caves. There will be something to appeal to everyone. We have Worley and Carter Saltpeter which are kid-friendly horizontal caves with big walking passage. Vertical caves will include Obeys Creek, Kerns Smokehole, and the Duffield trio of Caine, Miller, and Cat Hole.
Guided trips: We’ll endeavor to give as many tours as people want into beautiful Perkins Cave, about one hour from the campground. Perkins is the largest cave in Washington County, Virginia. We call it “advanced horizontal”; it’s really not suitable for kids or people who are very timid about exposure to heights. Tom Roehr's 1970s map showed 48,000 feet. The cave is now under resurvey, with an additional 25,000 feet expected. Wil Orndorrf is guiding a trip to Unthanks, the second longest cave in Lee County, Virginia. It's a big borehole stream cave more than seven miles long. Mike Ficco of the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias has offered access to the Powell Mountain Karst Preserve, the site of Omega’s Blowing entrance. This is the first time the PMKP has been opened for non-expedition use. There will be trips into the entrance area of Omega, the longest cave of record in Virginia and the deepest east of the Mississippi. The Preserve management plan forbids trips without an exploration or scientific purpose beyond the Omega gate, which is about 15 minutes travel from the bottom of the pit. PKMP also has Franklin’s Pit and Parsons Cave. Franklin’s Pit is an interesting multi-drop cave with surprisingly intact saltpeter works that were rediscovered in 2003. Parsons is a very easy horizontal cave. Bill Balfour has volunteered to get us access to nearby Crackers Neck Saltpeter. Guided trips to Omega/ Parsons/ Franklin’s Pit/ Crackers Neck will be offered to 20 cavers. If you want to do Franklin’s and Omega, you should be vertically competent. Mike himself will be guiding, with help from MEG members.
Cleanup trip: Rocky Hollow Cave was extensively vandalized last year. The gate was breached and lots of spray paint applied. Wil Orndorff of Virginia DCR will be leading a trip to clean it up. This trip is scheduled for Friday, June 6, to take advantage of state-provided transportation. This is a great opportunity to see a remote and beautiful cave. It’s vertical but the vandalized parts are accessible via fixed aluminum ladders. Wil estimates that participants will spend perhaps four hours cleaning and an equal amount caving.
Paddling opportunities: Greg Marshall, will organize trips depending on demand and water level. There are rivers and TVA impoundments a short drive in almost every direction.
The campground: Bristol Campground (www.bristolcampground.com) is in the Bristol, Tennessee city limits, across the street from Bristol International Raceway, only 15 minutes from I-81. It has a huge amount of space and “guaranteed unlimited” hot water for showers. Bristol has a sports center next door— we're thinking of having a SERA vs. VAR softball game. There's a long perimeter of trees to give us some shade and a nice corner for the traditional SERA hot tub. The campground is about 10 minutes from the nearest pizzeria, McDonald's, and Food City grocery store. Worley Cave, our nearest big trip cave, is about 15 minutes away. No ATVs allowed to operate in the campground, keep your well-behaved pets on leash your firearms put away in a safe place. Fires are permitted (fire rings are provided) – better bring your own wood, though.
Hotels: There are plenty of hotels on I-81 within about 15 minutes drive. Bristol's Day's Inn on 11-E is a bit closer.
Music: The Jug Busters and Dave Foster’s Soulgrass are performing Saturday night. Friday night: open hoot. If bluegrass is your thing, consider visiting Jonesborough’s free Music on the Square Friday night or the Bristol Country Music Association’s free Thursday night concert at the Bristol Mall, or a dozen other musical events within a quick drive of the campground.
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